A man running through a dimly lit hallway, floor padded with marble and clay - two tall walls sitting on both of his sides barely lit up by the hanging fluorescent lights above, the faint humming and creak could barely be heard as it swung to a melody being played far, far away from this... this desperate attempt at survival. Memories flashed of the incident that had occurred minutes before his mad dash away from the scene of the crime... though less of a crime and more of someone's job becoming harder due to the subsequent mad dash of his second target. Two Witches, both male - it was Nora's second mission by now and he was to gain direct experience, rather than watch idly by as the Witch Hunter he was supposed to advise was mentally torturing herself just so she didn't have to see it happen to someone else. But this was the day that Nora was to show that he wasn't a pushover, though a sad reality this was. Nora and Jan managed to catch it on a scanner that they had with them, vibrating more violently as they approached their target until a ringing could be heard throughout their surroundings, the targets standing right in front of them having a casual conversation, realizing the instant that both Nora and Jan arrived that their time had come.

Nora quickly whipped out his pistol as another made an immediate mad dash to the nearest corner, firing into the head of the one frozen in fear. "Nora!" Jan yelled as Nora grabbed onto the scanner, pointing it to the body as it rang even louder before pointing it towards the one who had begun running, still ringing all the while. "But..." Nora nodded to her, giving a sympathetic expression before chasing after the Witch who had runoff. As Nora followed, each step made by the Witch was permanently burned into his mind, each one of his shots causing the shrill popping of his gun to echo off of it. One hit on the shoulder, and another in the head. The Witch's body stiffened as the back of his head popped open, a flab of skin - hair attacked to it - hanging loosely from his now currently still cadaver. The bullet went straight through his head, a pool of blood quickly accumulating onto the marble flooring, seeping into the cracks.

Nora sighed, handshaking - sliding his finger off the trigger and onto the side of the gun, using the back of his hand to wipe off the condensation dripping from his brow, wetting his glove. As he heard Jan approach, he immediately regained his composure, putting the pistol back into a holster attached to his waistband. Jan approached with labored breath, looking over Nora's shoulder, seeing a corpse on the floor. Nora looked at the body as well, "Should we..." He paused, looking back to Jan, "Should we not do patrols like we do now?"

Jan swallowed through a dry throat, "No... no... this is fine. You did well, you just surprised me. So..." She looked Nora in the eyes, "You're experienced?" Nora didn't answer, just averted his eyes, looking back to the body with an unflinching expression on his face. Jan nodded, "Well... I've already contacted someone for the bodies - once they get here we can ditch this place."

"Yeah..." Nora sighed, spinning on his heel to look back at Jan, "We're still gonna patrol?"

"Do you wanna take a break?"

Nora shook his head, "I didn't ask for me."

Jan clicked her tongue, "I'm supposed to be the Witch Hunter here." She ended her sentence with a chuckle, "Y'know... I knew you were gonna do it but for some reason, it still surprised me in the end. I even checked and..." She tapped her head, "There was no way they were going to win, none of the scenarios said so, it was an impossibility. Almost makes it sad." Two members of Grief made their way into the hallway, a collection waiting outside as they peaked their heads in before quickly moving back to the other corpse that was quickly created by Nora. "Speak of the devil," She motioned to the members of Grief, "Let's get out of here."

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***

Jan chugged down a bottle of vodka, some of it trickling out of her mouth before slamming it back down onto the table in front of them, letting out a loud "AHH!" as a smile quickly came across her face. "I feel like I'm alive again!" She yelled, throwing her arms into the air. Both Nora and Jan had entered a small Japanese restaurant perfect for occasions such as these, sat onto the floor, a hole under the table they were sat around so they could put their legs inside. "You're quite kind..." She chuckled, "Aren't you, Nora?"

Nora shook his head, "I'd prefer my partner to be calm and not disturbed during a mission."

"Why are you still trying to 'straight face' this?" Jan broke out into laughter, "You need to loosen up!" She formed an 'X' with her arms, "STOP BEING PROFESSIONAL!" Jan yelled.

Nora squinted and clicked his tongue as she became more and more relaxed around him. "Ma'am, you shouldn't..." He shook his head, "No... no... I'm the one who suggested this." Nora mumbled.

"What are you mumblin' about?" She leaned over the table with a wry smile on her face, unbuttoning her dress shirt all the while, "What's up?" Jan purposely extenuated her breasts by pushing her arms against them as she leaned over, "Hm?"

"What are you doing?" Nora looked her straight in the eye.

"Hah!" She went back to her side of the table, "Not even a glance, no fun." Jan chuckled, taking another sip from her already half-empty bottle of vodka, "What was I expecting," She brought her voice to a whisper, "Didn't even react when I was buck naked." She started chuckling like a middle schooler making a dick joke.

"Now you're mumbling," Nora commented as a waiter opened the door to their room, placing down his food.

Jan glanced over at what he ordered, noticing that it was for more than one person yet was huddled into one side of the table, "What the hell?" She chuckled, "How much are you gonna eat?"

Nora took a bite of his food, "I have a high metabolism," He paused, looking Jan in the eyes, "I get hungry easily."

Jan smirked, "You might be my type but maaan... it is just not fun trying to fuck with you."

Nora almost choked on his food, "I'm your type?"

Jan gave Nora a massive shit-eating grin, "Was that an emotion?"

Nora sighed, shaking his head as he took another bite, ripping off a crab's leg in the process, "Just because I act the way I do... doesn't mean I can't be surprised, I just don't let it stall me in a combat situation."

"So you know when to sit still and when not to?"

"Most of the time..." He slurped out a massive glob of meat from within the crab leg before continuing, "I'm moving."

"How do you feel about me, Nora?"

"I think all that you've been doing now is an act."

"That's somewhat accurate but you aren't one to talk."

Nora raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"No matter how straight-faced you are, no matter how calm and professional you try to be, nothing can stop you from showing residual panic," She mimicked Nora's shakey hands, "You were shaking, but it was subtle enough for nobody to notice, except me. You don't enjoy this, right?" Jan scoffed, "Of course you don't, let me correct myself."

"Go on."

"You... you're not used to this."

"I am..."

Jan scoffed again, "How's that? Were you a police officer or... maybe even a hitman?"

Nora stopped eating, looking at the massive array of food in front of him with faint disdain, "I wasn't shaking out of fear... I wasn't shaking because of guilt either."

"Then... why were you shaking?"

"I keep forgetting how wrong this situation really was, and I realized that they probably had a family waiting at home."

"That's called guilt."

"Let me finish," Jan took another sip of her drink as Nora sat there in silence, "I keep forgetting how wrong this situation really was... empathy... not for the one who had died. To be honest, I felt nothing as they died. For some reason..." He shook his head, "No it was fear - I've never had a partner or anyone around me..." Nora sighed, "No, I'm stopped." He continued eating.

"Just say it."

"Whenever I killed someone, I've never had someone over my shoulder. I was afraid of what you would think."

"Why...?"

"I... just want to be normal. But I'm brought back here again. I can't escape this life because it's the only thing I know how to do. Fight, kill, fight... but why do I feel this anxiety...?"

Jan shrugged, "How should I know?"